


Taking a Train

by VaansAbs



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29338014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaansAbs/pseuds/VaansAbs
Summary: Link doesn't know what to do with his life after saving Hyrule with Zelda. After giving up being a knight and a conductor, he goes to work for Linebeck the third, but he wonders if he really wants to do that for the rest of his life too. Zelda comes to see him and he finally realizes what he wants to do.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 13





	Taking a Train

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fated: A Zelink Zine's digital side zine.

_ “Hey, Link. When this is all over, what are you going to do? Are you still going to be an engineer? Or will you be a knight?” _

That’s what she had asked him before their last battle. That had been about six months ago. Truthfully he wanted to be both, but he felt like there was no option to be both an engineer and a knight, so he had settled with an “I dunno” and a shrug. Zelda had just laughed and gave him a warm smile, but he wondered if he had made the right decision. 

When Link had given Princess Zelda his answer, he had floundered about for a while, never feeling satisfied with anything he was doing. Nico had taken him under his wing again, but Link didn’t feel he had the makings of a master storyteller and had apologetically left. Then he took up knight training. That day Zelda had come down to the training yard to watch his progress.

“Oh, no! Watch out, Link!”

The training master’s sword cracked against Link’s skull with a loud, “THAWCK!!”

Even though he had fought many enemies and even the Demon King, Malladus, Link was not very skilled with a blade. It was a miracle that he could even wield it at all. Sometimes he had to wonder if the heroes of the past were the ones that made it possible for him to so much as swing a sword.

Zelda ran over to Link, gently touching his head to check for bumps or lumps, and asked, “That looked like it hurt. Are you alright, Link?” 

“I’m fine. I used to get all kinds of bruises on our adventure so this is nothing!” He gave her a reassuring smile and she smiled back, helping him to his feet after he fell. 

But he didn’t remain a knight-in-training for long. One day on his way to dinner he overheard the knight commander telling his second-in-command how much of a lost cause Link was and while Link didn’t like to think of himself as a quitter, there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that maybe he wasn’t really cut out for this after all.

Zelda had protested, but it wasn’t enough for Link to stay. Even if being a knight meant getting to be closer to Zelda, it just wasn’t enough. It wasn’t what he felt he was meant to do.

Then he tried to go back to work with Alfonso, but that didn’t last very long either. Alfonso understood better than Link. There was something else out there waiting for him, but even he didn’t know for sure what it was. 

But here he was now. Working at the trading post as Linebeck the third’s assistant. 

“Oi! Are you listening!? There’re a ton of heavy boxes back here and I need your help!” Linebeck whacked him on the back of his head. 

“Ow! You didn’t have to hit me so hard.” He rubbed the spot where Linebeck had hit him. 

“I’ve called you about five times. You didn’t answer, so I did the next best thing!”

“Ah! I’ve had it!” Link threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t want to be your assistant anymore. I quit!”

Every day for the past three months, Linebeck had been avoiding doing his own chores and had instead handed them off to Link. Every day, he would lure Link in with the promise that he would help and every time, Link would fall for it. He’d get suckered into doing all the hard work. This time would be the same as every other time. 

But Linebeck didn’t respond to Link’s resignation the way he thought he would. Instead, his friend just chuckled and said, “Is that so?” Link’s mouth fell open as he watched his friend turn away from him and begin tobmove some boxes. 

Above them in the clouds, they could hear the puff-puff of Beedle’s hot-air balloon announcing its arrival, and it wasn’t long before the traveling merchant landed in front of Linebeck’s store. 

“Hello~! What a fine day it is, Linebeck! Link!” 

As Beedle threw his weights onto the ground, an idea popped into Link’s head. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad working with Beedle. He certainly didn’t have any heavy boxes for him to carry.

“Aye, that it is. Although Link here,” Linebeck clapped him on the back. “Said he’s quittin’. Isn’t that funny?”

But Beedle didn’t laugh. Link watched as his eyes became sad, his lips turned down into a frown, and his shoulders sagged. “You’re quitting? But you were so happy the last time I visited.”

And it was true. While he wasn’t exactly jumping up for joy working with Linebeck, he had been happy. Every day he looked forward to waking up and coming to work. The first few weeks had been slow. Few people visited the store, but seeing the mysterious artifacts always filled him to the brim with excitement. But one day, a day like any other day really, he woke up and wondered if he really wanted to spend the rest of his life here. Would he even be happy if he went to work with Beedle? Truthfully, what he really wanted was to see Zelda. He wanted to be by her side, but it clearly wasn’t meant to be. That made him want to sulk. 

“Things change! I don’t want to be stuck here anymore! I want to see new pastures!” He waved his short arms around.

“Haven’t you already seen every place in Hyrule? With the princess?” Linebeck raised an eyebrow. “What more is there to see?” 

Somewhere out there, there just had to be. Zelda’s ancestor, Queen Tetra, had come from a region far away before she had established Hyrule. Was there a chance that wherever she had come from was still out there? Waiting to be rediscovered with all of its secrets? That was one place Link knew of that he could see, but how far could a train take him? Did they even have trains there?

“Hmm.” Beedle placed a finger on his chin and tilted his head from one side to the other. “I’ve seen quite a lot of places, but wouldn’t you be happier here? What about your friends?”

It was unspoken on Beedle’s lips, but Link couldn’t help but think of her again. 

_ What about Princess Zelda? _

Crossing his arms over his chest, Link pouted. It was true. He didn’t want to leave Zelda behind, but she had things here she couldn’t just leave behind. 

A whistle broke his train of thoughts. It came a second time, and a third before Link finally recognized it. It was the sound of the spirit train, but he couldn’t fathom why it was coming to Linebeck’s. In fact, the last time he had even seen the spirit train was at Alfonzo’s where his friend had worked tirelessly to make sure it stayed in tiptop shape. 

_ Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!!  _ He’d never forget that sound.

But there was another sound that accompanied the spirit train. It almost sounded like someone was shouting, and it was only when the spirit train came closer that Link realized who it was.

“Link!!”

“Zelda!!” 

Knowing that Zelda was here, he felt the corners of his lips turn up in a big smile, and he could feel his heart pounding loudly and very hard against his ribcage. While his feelings of restlessness were still inside him somewhere, they seemed to vanish once he saw Zelda. Had it really been so long since they’d last seen each other? 

The train pulled into the station and Zelda immediately rushed out, without a second thought, nearly tripping as she flung herself down the stairs. But Link, having been used to catching her when he’d still been a knight-in-training (sometimes she forgot she was no longer a ghost), ran towards her, faster than even when Linebeck called his name and caught her in his arms. 

“H-hey! You gotta be careful, Zels!” His nickname for her, slipping through his lips.

Her face turned cherry red as she said, “I know! I know. But it surprises you to see me, right?” 

“Yeah. Of course!” He was still holding her by the tops of her arms, their proximity never registering in his mind. The only thing that he noticed was the scent of her perfume, lilacs, and how she was more beautiful than the last time he had seen her, if that was even possible.

They heard coughing behind them, and it was like a zap of electricity had gone through the two of them. The cherry red that had coloured Zelda’s face now coloured Link’s, and he chuckled, nervously. He had forgotten that Linebeck and Beedle were still here. 

“Well, we’ll just leave you two lovebirds to yourselves.” Linebeck lifted one of his hands in farewell. Beedle waved and followed Linebeck as he entered the trading post.

Alone. With Zelda. That hadn’t happened in half a year. Someone was always accompanying her wherever she needed to be ever since. And while he was a commoner, he wished he could have a moment alone with her. To talk. To play. To do anything really, and now here was that moment, or at least he hoped so. Was Alfonzo with her?

“Is there anyone else in the train?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Mmm… Nope! It was just me!” Now that they were alone, she was free to act more like herself. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled widely. 

“What! But… how!?” No way. He couldn’t believe it. Surely there was someone hiding from his line of sight. 

“Did you forget about our adventure? While I was a ghost, I didn’t exactly have much to do on those rides through Hyrule, so I watched you.” 

“You watched me?”

“Yes, and I found that I’m a quick learner.” 

Somehow he didn’t doubt that considering how easily she adapted to using phantom armor, and to being a ghost (even if it took her a while to remember she wasn’t one anymore), but she learned from watching him? The thought made him want to blush, but he just chuckled and his thoughts turned back to how he had walked away from his dream of being a conductor. 

His hands fell to his sides. What had he been thinking? 

“Is everything alright, Link?”

But he didn’t answer. Plopping down on the steps at the station, he placed his head in his hands and sighed. Zelda knelt down next to him and gently touched his shoulder. 

“Did I do something wrong in coming to visit unexpectedly?” A gentle breeze blew then, and they could hear the faint sounds of seagulls on the horizon. Zelda frowned. 

“No. It’s not you, Zelda. I feel like I made a mistake.” 

“So you’re not happy here, either?”

Had she just been a few minutes earlier, she would have heard him quit his job. There were days when he was happy and days when he wasn’t, but all-in-all he didn’t want to be stuck here. Perhaps the zest that comes with a world-saving adventure was still deep inside his bones. It wasn’t so easily rid of.

Zelda sat down next to him and looked off into the distance. The last time she’d been here, she had been a ghost. Now that she was corporeal, she could take in all the sights and the sounds and the smells like the scent of the salty ocean air on the horizon and how said ocean seemed to stretch for miles. The sounds of seagulls cawing reached her ears again. Back when she was a ghost, when she had been fighting alongside her friend, she had seen happy being a conductor had made him. She still didn’t understand why it wasn’t what he wanted to do. Had she not made him a royal engineer?

“You miss being an engineer, don’t you?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then why, after everything, didn’t you just do that?”

“Because,” and he admitted out loud those feelings he had told no one. “I thought that there was something more for me waiting out there.”

Zelda took his hand in her own and gave a little squeeze. “Why don’t you go back, then?”

The feeling of her hand in his made his heart skip a beat,and he felt butterflies in his stomach. Something’s just never changed. But to answer her question, he didn’t really know. Was that where he was eventually headed after leaving Linebeck? Would Beedle have gotten fed up with him and left him with Zelda? Or Alfonzo?

“I don’t know, Zels.”

It was her turn to sigh then. She stood up, hand still holding Link’s, and tugged him onto his feet. “C’mon. We’re leaving.”

“What? But Linebeck-”

“He’ll understand. Oh! And you’re going to drive the train!” She winked at him and then tugged him up the steps and towards the spirit train.

“H-hey!” 

Zelda let go of his hand and playfully shoved him. “C’mon! It’s time you got back to doing what you really love! And I won’t take no for an answer!”

“Zels…” 

But he knew she was right. Being a conductor or engineer was what he had always wanted, but just traveling around Hyrule after seeing everything that it offered made him hesitate climbing aboard the spirit train. Wasn’t there anywhere else he could go?  _ They  _ could go? And then the sound of seagulls drawing closer reminded him of his thoughts earlier.

As he turned to face Zelda, he could see the look of confusion (furrowed eyebrows, scrunched nose, a small frown) appearing on her face and before she could ask, he said, “What if we went on another adventure?”

But that only made Zelda more confused. “What do you mean?” 

“What if we visited the place where your ancestor, Queen Tetra, came from?”

“I don’t think a train could take us across the  _ entire  _ ocean.”

But the confusion that had set on Zelda’s face was slowly disappearing. The thought of exploring the seas where her ancestor had come from was more appealing by the second. But she had responsibilities. She couldn’t just leave. “I’d love to go, Link! But I have to… stay.”

Link frowned. 

“But how about I appoint you ‘royal… adventurer’ or something like that! You could explore and chronicle everything out there!” She took his hands in reassurance. “Then you can go anywhere you want! By whatever mode of transportation!”

It sounded like a good idea to him and if he was the ‘royal adventurer’ that meant that maybe Zelda could tag along too.

“Okay!” He nodded.

“Then it’s settled!” She smiled at him. “Let’s go back to the castle and I can arrange all the paperwork with Teacher!” 

And so that was how Link became the ‘royal adventurer’ as they called it. Zelda would eventually join him on his journeys as the two got older and revisit the places of their ancestors. 

**Author's Note:**

> If the ending feels rushed, I'm sorry! 😭 I went over the limit by 200 words and then I did editing and I was still over and now I'm like what? 10 characters under limit?? orz So maybe one day in the future I will come back to this with a more beefy ending because there was a lot I wanted to do with this but only so much in 2500 words or less. I also couldn't come up with a cool title so I just named it after a Jem and the Holograms song that gets stuck in my head whenever I hear the word, 'train'. lol I wanted Link to work with Linebeck and then leave and work with Beedle who'd then get fed up with him and Link would accidentally fall out of his air balloon into the castle courtyards where Zelda would find him and look after him, but as you can see... that didn't happen. But I hope that you enjoyed it all the same!! orz I'm working on another Zelink piece but for Skyward Sword (my first fave Zelda game. ST is third & tied with WW.) and Groose is gonna show up in that one. I wanted to get that one done by Thursday but it might be done later in the week or next week.


End file.
